five: body work

It was completely silent at Sohma house. Tohru, Yuki and Shigure were tucked in and at least pretending to sleep. Two of their five were missing. Tohru stared at her bedroom ceiling, watching the blue tiled pattern shift with the tree branches. "Where are they?" she asked softly of the universe.

There was a motel across town; a dingy little place that was used by strangers, cheating husbands, and two fiery teenagers. Uo was stretched out on the floor naked. Beads of sweat clung to her body as she finger combed her hair. Kyo sat leaning against the bed, only recently dressed, or half dressed. Olive drab clashed resoundingly with the dull grey of the carpet and bright orange clashed just as loudly with the fuzzy tan blanket. The paisley bedspread was flipped over, white side up, with Uo lounging on it.

"I miss the bed." Uo said lazily as cinnamon eyes memorized her body.

Kyo smiled, "Lucky blighter." he was too far away from her. Her gaze swept over the room; clothes were strewn everywhere, including her bra, which hung contemptuously from the wall mount lamp. There was a lazy grin on her face and a glow to her skin. "Come here." Kyo's voice was rough.

Uo turned her face, looking at the boy that had just insured that she would be sore in the morning. A blonde eyebrow rose a fraction of an inch as she watched cinnamon orbs. "I'm not moving."

Kyo crawled over to her with a smile. Her fingers traced down his chest as he kissed her. His hand was between her thighs and she whimpered her shoulder blades reaching for each other as her back left the floor. "You said you weren't going to move." his lips traced a hot path down her throat.

"I lied." the top button of his pants was undone.

Kyo leaned back, propping his weight on his arm. "What makes chicks so fucking desirable?" he asked, the hand between her thighs moving slowly.

Uo let out a breath that hissed between her teeth with a hiss, caught a handful of orange hair, and dragged his face down to hers and whispered, "Two words: Multiple orgasms."

-- . --

Tohru stood at Yuki's door, waiting patiently for someone to answer her knock. He was in there, that much she knew. She knocked again and heard the sound of a vaguely Yuki shaped mass hit the floor. A hand covered her sweet little mouth as Yuki opened the door. Yuki stood there looking utterly tasty, silvery hair tumbled into his eyes which slipped into lovely pools of violet temptation. He was clothed, but not well. Grey silk pajama bottoms hung loosely from his hips, a t-shirt of a nondescript color was being worn backward, tag brushing Yuki's chin. Tohru giggled, her hand not covering the sound.

Yuki blinked behind his curtain of her hair. Was that Tohru? Standing in his door? In nothing but her nightie? His heart jumped into his throat and he was suddenly having trouble trying to breathe. It was completely innocent. An innocent visit. At three in the morning. "H- Honda-san, to what do I owe the pleasure?" he asked utterly polite even as early as that.

"Do you know if Uo is home yet?" she asked casting chaste eyes to the floor.

That soft smile pulled at Yuki's lips, tired seeped from his eyes. "You've been up all night?" he didn't answer her question only side stepped and motioned her into his room.

-- . --

Kyo stood by the bed, fully clothed, more than satisfied and tired as hell. Uo was stretched out below him on the bed half asleep, lying on her side, back to him. "We have the room for the night." was her soft comment. He sat down in the perfect curve her legs made. Calloused palms ran over her thigh and she sat up pulling the sheet around her. "Stay." she whispered, reaching out and touching his bright orange hair.

"Uo." there was a softness in his voice, like a silk wrapped blade rubbing down her skin. She leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her face into his shoulder. He sat there a moment, then wrapped his arms around her with a sigh. There was something going on that she hadn't mentioned, but he held her anyways. He shook his head "We stay."

-- . --

Tohru smiled at Yuki as she sat on his floor. "The strawberries should be ready soon." she said, eyes on her engagement band. "Yes, they should." Yuki nodded, eyes on Tohru. He was leaning against the wall, arms crossed lazily over his chest, hair in his face. "I know you know where they are." she said, somewhat out of the blue. If anything she was getting better at figuring things out on her own. But then, Yuki was sure she was smarter than she let on. Yuki's smile faded like a light bulb just beginning to dim. "You're getting better at that." he muttered She tilted up her face and looked at him. "You know. Tell me." She made it two short commands, and Yuki's smile slipped right off his pretty face. He crossed the distance between them and crouched in front of her, and tilted her chin up to look at her face. Then he looked dead into miles of brown, and lied.

-- . --

Uo smiled and leaned against the pillows. Kyo smiled that small awkward little grin of his, and stripped off his black t-shirt once more. He crawled onto the bed with her and leaned against the headboard, cradling his Cinderella to his chest. Uo sighed contently and, for the lack of a better word, snuggled into him. She was tired enough, and happy enough, that she could relax into the warmth that was Kyo.

-- . --

"I don't know where Uo is, and Kyo's probably wandering around somewhere like the dumb cat that he is." he said. They were at the sleazy motel that they always used; they were together, and had been for probably a month since he knew about it. There were voices arguing in his head; one was the one at the front of his skull, the whiter side of Yuki, was screaming for him to tell her the truth, but how could he tell Tohru, sweet innocent, pure as the day is long Tohru, that two of her best friends were sleeping together? The other, the blacker side, was seething about the fact that Kyo was getting some and all he got to do was sit here with his hand on Tohru's chin.

"You're lying to me Yuki." Tohru said, dropping her eyes.

One thing all Sohma's learned to do was lie. "Is there a reason why I should lie to you Miss Honda?"

She smiled softly; she had always had a hard time staying mad at the Sohmas. "Tohru." Yuki looked puzzled, and was so close to her that she leaned forward and kissed him softly. "You can call me Tohru." her lips moved against his as she spoke and he rocked back on his hells, tumbling over to sprawl on the floor, delightfully ungainly in a very un-Yuki like matter. Tohru giggled softly, one hand covering her mouth. The doll like Yuki pulled himself up onto his elbows, and stared at the girl, eyes wide, lips throbbing with the feel of her lips on his. They sat there for a minute, 'til Yuki reached up and pulled Tohru to the floor, and to him.

-- . --

Kyo's cinnamon eyes traced the lines of Uo's body. She looked softer when she slept, nearly helpless really, in his arms. A jaw line tightened as his mind's eye landed on the first time they had met, really met, on a playfield that was anything but friendly.

He had left the night they had announced their intentions. He had run, hard and fast and far from that place. She had finally decided, and he wished she hadn't. Four months later, he showed up again. The house was as empty as his stomach, which rumbled like a freight train. The front door slid open smooth, and blue met embers over the distance.

Uo was sitting at the kitchen table, black mini pulled up a little high, red lipstick still dark. They stared at each other. He could see it in her face as she looked him over. The Kyo she knew was gone, gone and faded into this new thing. There was no scrawny teenager left, somewhere along the way he had filled out, grown up, and damn did he look good.

"You're late." she smirked, eyes not quite covering her feelings.

"Where are they?" anger crept into his voice.

She smiled and rubbed the proverbial salt into his wounds with a few deft words. "Yuki and Tohru are on a date." she paused, just to watch his face crumble then restack.

Kyo's chest tightened with anger. It was to be expected. Yuki and Tohru were dating, a date went unsaid. His fist dented a nearby stud and he stood there, frozen, dragging air back into reluctant lungs. "So why are you here?" his voice was not much more than a growl.

Uo grinned, that lovely Cheshire cat grin of hers. "I live here."

Kyo took out the wall, "You what?!?!?"

"I moved in after you moved out." she grinned up at him, "Guess you could say I was your replacement."

"You're the best they could find?"

Uo was on her feet so fast Kyo got whiplash just thinking about it. Blonde hair flared around her face like some ghostly halo, and those classic eyes glowed with hellfire, but Kyo never got that far. He got stuck on her long legs, clad in thigh high black fishnets, his eyes traveled up from the floor, crossing the black stiletto heels, her calves, her thighs, the black line that her thigh high cut across the smooth skin. The flat panel of her stomach,, small rounded breasts, up the curl of his throat to an almost blushing face. An uncommon smirk slapped itself onto Kyo's face, and Uo was fighting to keep from slapping him. "See anything you like?" she hissed the hair on the back of her neck standing on end.

Kyo smiled that dark little smile of his, "If I do I'll be sure to mention it to you." he replied cool as anything. He was fabulous, pity was that he knew it.

Uo Cheshired again, "I remember, you like yours short and sweet."

"Leave her out of this!" Kyo yelled, Uo always knew just the perfect way to punch his buttons.

"Don't tell me you're still hung up on her." Uo laughed and in the same motion dodged the fist that soared past her with a whistle.

"Don't talk about her." he yelled, she dodged another fist, dancing backward on her spiked heels.

"She was my friend long before you loved her." she smiled. "So I think I have more right to talk about her than you do."

"Shut up!!!" He yelled, rushing her.

Uo sidestepped and tripped him. She stood over him with a smile. "Can't stand that you're still only second best."

Kyo's blood pressure soared and stood so fast he hit lightheaded, "I swear every time you open your mouth ..."

"I piss you off." Uo was suddenly there right in front of him and her foot connected with his chin like a thousand pounds of blunt weight. She had laid him out again. There was a fabulously detestable smile on her face while she stood over him, and he stared up her short black skirt at her matching black lace underwear.

"Classy." he muttered, bringing one hand up to rub his sore face. His eyes were once again wandering up her long legs. Uo smoothed her skirt back down. "Had to match." "You don't wear short skirts often enough not to flash someone in one." Kyo said, and lilted the end, making it almost a question. "I can't wear a skirt and you can't beat a girl. I guess we come up about even." she said, watching him. He staggered up once more. "If we're even, then why the hell did I end up on the floor?"

Uo grinned "Because I will always be better than you."

"You throw a pretty good punch, for a girl." he said, rubbing that fine chin of his.

"I do a lot of things really well." the conversation was flawless; Uo turning out response without a pause, almost before Kyo could think of things to reply.

The red head took a step forward; Uo stood her ground, watching him come. "You can, can you?" his voice crawled down her spine. The boy had certainly changed.

"One more step and you can find out just how good."

Yuki smiled at Tohru, holding him close to her. "I love you Tohru Honda." he whispered, and she snuggled into him.

"I love you too. I always have." her arms circled his waist as she held on to him, like he was the last thing that mattered to her. And for all niceties, he was. There was nothing desperate in them, no need too great. There was an easiness to it, in the way they held each other. They weren't like Uo and Kyo, who clung to each other like there wasn't anything else in the world. Yuki and Tohru held each other softly, tender in every meaning of the word. They loved each other with everything they had, everything and more. There was the love that Shigure wrote about (in his better novels) the happy, careless love of teenagers, uncomplicated, unquestioned, love.

"Stay with me tonight Tohru?" Yuki asked, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

Tohru sat straight up, "Yuki Sohma. How dare you "Yuki lay a gentle hand on her lips.

"Just stay. Let me hold you tonight."

Tohru blushed, "That's all?" she asked, her lips moving against his palm.

Yuki smiled and replaced his hand with a kiss. "Yes, my Tohru. Just that." He chuckled softly at the sweet, school-girlish blush that spread across her checks as she threw her arms around his neck. He stood, lifting the girl in his arms, and took her to bed.

Kyo took the step and the shiny, lean edge of a switchblade dug into his neck, just at his jaw. He smiled; that same dark smile that had seen to many dark alleys. The same smile she wore. The smile of a person hurting and willing to hurt. Uo dug that little blade into him, a warning, but the look never changed. Kyo's eyes went dead as he dragged his rough palm up her arm, big hand wrapping around hers. He stepped into her, one hand at the small of her back, pulling her body against the hard line of his. Uo growled, loosing the knife's angle somewhere along the way. The red head just smirked and slid a hand up her back. There was no crease, no line, no wrinkle, "No bra." Uo almost blushed "I never thought you were the type."

"What the fuck's that suppose to mean?" Uo yelled, dragging the blade down his skin.

"No bra and lace panties. If I didn't know better I'd say you were horny." his voice rolled over her. The blade shimmered at his collar and, with a smile, she opened his shirt.

"Be glad you know." she hissed, lips close to his.

It didn't bleed instantly, that gently slopping line that dragged through his black t-shirt. And they watched together as crimson floated to the top. Kyo stared at his marked chest for a long moment. It wasn't the worse injury he'd ever had. But that's not what hurt, what was really smarting was his ego. He was never going to beat Yuki, not at a game that he choose at least, but Kyo had to deal with that, or stop breathing. He looked up at Uo, and realized that she would happily hand him the last. She, Arisa Uotani, would kill him; and be happy about it.

"Who fucked you over Uotani?" he asked, "Who got those lacy panties in a twist?" he slid his hand up her thigh and snapped said underwear, then left his hand there, resting against the rough of the lace and the smooth of her thigh.

Uo's eyes widened slightly and she ran her fingertips lightly down the recently acquired cut. "That is none of your goddamned business." no sooner had the words slipped like honey from her lip then she dug her fingers into the wound. Kyo gasped, and Uo grabbed a belt loop and pulled him hard to her. "It ain't nothing you need to worry that pretty little head of yours over." Blood spilled down her fingers and splashed against Kyo's wrist. The hand on her thigh convulsed, and the hotheaded youth fell into her. Uo took his weight, for a moment, and then shoved him backward, watching him sprawl once more on the floor.

"Damn." he breathed, and a shiver crept its way unexpectedly down Uo's spine. It had been a long time since anyone had reacted like that. She couldn't decide whether his words were curse or praise. Kyo was slumped on the floor, shirt flapping back off his chest, eyes half closed, the bloody gash on his chest running riverlettes of crimson down his ribcage. The Yankee stood over him and he rolled thoughts of those black panties over in his head. In that second, thoughts of Tohru did not occupy his mind, not Tohru or any other woman he had ever known. Just Arisa Uotani, and her black underwear. His life was smeared all over her right hand and she loomed over him, steady on her heels and glaring daggers. Kyo let his head fall back, his chest on fire and lust burning in his heart. He wanted her so bad he could taste it. "Arisa." he murmured and Uo tensed.

"Don't call me that." Kyo sat up and looked at the girl, the pain in his chest already fading.

"It's your name ain't it?" he asked and she nodded, "Then why not call you by it?"

Uo ground her teeth, "It's not who I am."

Kyo pulled himself to his feet with all the grace of a broken marionette. "I'm not a Sohma, but I bear that name." he was suddenly too close to her, his eyes too bright, his face too beautiful and too dangerously familiar. Uo screamed in her head, she would keep her libido in check or slice him up trying. "We are not so different you and I." the words were soft spoken, and almost kind.

"I'm not like you." she spat. Kyo stepped closer to her. A slight three inches separated them out of habit, even after a year they weren't use to being able to get close.

"Are you trying to convince me, or yourself?" he asked, sliding his hand along the curve of her hip to her lower back. Uo stilled, everything settling into that area of white noise that held her center. She had killed people in this place, and now she stood there, empty, and wondered if he was right. He leaned into her, whispering in her ear. "Too much alike maybe." Her body reacted to his, and she stood and knew that he had found the same place she had. They stood there touching, but so far apart that they might as well been on different planets.

Kyo took her hand and, for once in her life, Arisa Uotani didn't fight it.

Tohru was curled up next to Yuki, her head resting against his shoulder, eyes still closed with sleep. Yuki smiled down at her. They would be married in a few more weeks, and she would finally be his, forever. He was a prince in more than name alone it would seem. Next to him, Kyo was just a hot-tempered knight, just waiting to rush in and rescue whoever needed him. That's why Tohru had chosen him. Yuki was dependable, steady, and when he said he would love her forever, he meant it. Kyo couldn't really promise her anything. She loved them both, but it had been time for her to choose. Tohru frowned a little in her sleep and Yuki smoothed a finger gently against the wrinkle that formed just between her eyebrows. She worried too much; he planned on easing that worry out of her life. Yuki planned to take care of her as much as he could. He loved her, more than anything else in his world. His violet eyes disappeared behind his butterfly thin eyelids. Sleep captured them in a fabulous net of dreams, and they surrendered to it. Morning came all too soon for Yuki and Tohru, as the shuffling of the now overflowing household overwhelmed them, and demanded of them their unaltered attention.

"Tohru?" a voice asked from down the hall. It was Shigure's voice, and he sounded sleepy, and hungry.

Tohru's limited thought function yelled at her to get up and go cook things. So she did. She disentangled herself from Yuki and slipped out of the bed, and out the door toward the kitchen, humming to herself. Shigure watched her, blinking, from the end of the hall. Was that Tohru? Did she just come out of Yuki's room? Surely she hadn't spent the night. He blinked at her, without her knowing about it, and let the questions run around in his perverted little head. "We wonder." he muttered and tiptoed down the hall. He peered into Yuki's room, and wondered about the small smile on his mouth. Yep, she had slept here, but what else?

Uo slid the memory that was left of Kyo shirt down his shoulders, and watched the pieces flutter to the floor like charred butterflies. Her eyes never meet his as she lapped at the wound at his throat and down his chest. She lapped at it, like a cat with cream, tongue leaving quick wet lines down the wound. She stopped when she couldn't get anymore without hitting her knees. That black dress slithered down her body, Kyo's hands trailing in its wake. He kissed her throat, and she realized that somewhere along the way this boy had gotten an education of the not so civil order. She wasn't expecting it when he pushed her backward onto the bed. He leaned over and pressed a line of hot kisses from her collarbone to her navel. He undid her shoes and tossed them to the side, and then he stood there, just watching her, taking in the strange perfection that was the Yankee. There was a scar under her belly button, a knife scar, apparently gotten in a fight that went wrong. Another scar ran down from her shoulder across her collarbone and ended just at the swell of her left breast. He resisted the urge to trace the line.

"See something you like?" she asked, in that flat voice.

Kyo undid the top button of his pants and if he had been wearing underwear, Uo never saw it. Her panties disappeared and he was on her, and in her, and insuring a sore morning, the next moment.

It was just after 3 in the morning when Kyo looked down at the girl that lay sleeping against his chest. He left his memories to pick up the screaming phone. It was the front desk, telling him that there was a phone call for him. "Patch it through." he muttered, wondering who in the hell would be calling him here. There were only three people that knew about this room, and all of them had found out accidentally. Shigure, Hatori and Yuki. They were the only people that knew. So it had to be one of them. Kyo hoped to everything holy that it wasn't Shigure. It wasn't Shigure, it was something worse.

"Lovely Kyo!" Aya's voice drifted through the phone at approximately the same noise level of a 747. Kyo winced and held the phone away from his ear. Uo blinked sleepy eyes at him.

"Why is Aya calling you?" she asked, "I thought we covered our asses with this one." Kyo smiled and pressed a kiss to her hair.

"How the fuck am I suppose to know? As soon as he stops squealing I'll ask."

Uo slide a hand across his chest, "I hope you don't make him squeal."

"Can I make you squeal?" There was a nasty glint in his eye as she grinned at him.

The Yankee slid out of the bed and slid to the bathroom, "Talk to Aya. I'm getting in the shower."

Kyo went back to the phone, "Shut up." he growled, thankful that he could mask his grin with his voice. Aya was silent for a moment, then started back in on him about Yuki and Tohru and something. Kyo stopped listening, "Ayame." there was no growl in his voice, just this deadness that was matched only by the monotones of Hana and Hatori. Aya shut up. "Tell me why you called. You have exactly 30 seconds." and Aya told him.

Uo lay there, face down in the pillows, half glowing with that glorious laxness that comes only with afterglow. He was hard, ruthless, rough, and completely wonderful. He had the chilling organization of a serial killer in the cold calculated way he had taken her. Something fabulously sinister, but with an undertone of something greater, some promise of gentleness that he hadn't shown here. It was in the way his hand stayed on her thigh, in the way he smelled like blood and sex and chocolate, and in the way he didn't move when she rolled over. "Where were you?" she asked, voice a little raw.

Kyo's eyes were closed, one hand fumbling in the bedside table for a smoke that he just knew he had left, he found one and lit up before answering, "Around."

"The details astound me." she said, sitting up and reaching for her underwear

Kyo watched her move, not out of love, or any other poetic notion, just for the lack of something better to do. "Does it matter?"

"Professional curiosity you might say." he watched her lift her hips and slide the panties back into place.

"Curiosity killed the cat." Kyo dragged himself into a sitting position, talking around the cancer stick tuck between his lips. Uo reached over and dragged her nails down his chest, following the dotted line, so to speak. She leaned into him, stretching her body the length of his. "Satisfaction brought him back." her voice was breathy in his head. "There was some reason you came back; what is it?" she asked leaning back from him and slipping out of the bed.

Kyo sat there in that horrid motel bed smoking, as tradition dictated. Tohru had been the reason he came back, but Uo was the reason he stayed. He listened to the shower running and shook his head, half fascinated, half ashamed at the sheer coldness of that night. It had been a good, uncomplicated, vanilla kind of sex. But that's all that was there, just the sex and that coldness. Kyo's cinnamon eyes wandered over the room, then shut, and he wished she was back here. He listened to the shower run, and thought about the phone call. It was going to be a long night. Kyo let his mind roll and landed on the next memory in the line.

Shigure had been looking for Uo when he came across a seeming abomination. Kyo was sitting in the bed still, sheets over his lap, watching, utterly dispassionate, as she dressed. Shigure opened the door, and saw the back of a tall blonde smoothing her skirt back into place against her thighs. The author's eyes took in the scene but his brain refused to process the information.

The girl, woman, stood with her back to the door, blonde hair striking a sharp relief against the black of her dress. Kyo's eyes shifted off her to look at Shigure, there was nothing in them. If the eyes really were the windows to the soul, then Kyo's problem was that there was nobody home. "Kyo!" Shigure's voice was bright with surprise, "You're back, and with a conque..." the word died on his lips as Arisa Uotani turned to look at him with eyes blank as the winter skies. "Uo, what?" he looked from the girl to Kyo and back. "Do I even want to know?"

"NO!" The pair's shouted reply redoubled in his head.

"It was a one time deal Gure." Uo commented blithely, slipping her heels back on. "It didn't mean anything. It was just a good, almost clean, uncomplicated fuck." Kyo sat silently watching the show.

Shigure's eyes drifted over the groove in Kyo's chest, and the blood on Uo's hands. "Why am I not surprised. Lovely Kyo's into kinky sex" he sang out that last word "just wait 'til Aya hears about this." he danced a happy little dance as his voice singsonged through the small room. Kyo stood, crossed the distance between them and knocked his landlord on his ass. Shigure looked stunned as a strikingly naked Kyo glowered at him, he had skipped the preliminary yelling and ranting and moved right to the point, so to speak. "Get out." was the hoarse command, and Shigure almost took it upon himself to tease them about their voices, or lack there of. The author's mouth opened then shut as he stood, brushed himself off, and walked to the door, quirky little smirk still in place. "Settle down, put some pants on and clean up (though not necessarily in that order). I'll call Hatori; you'll need stitches."

And so he had. He looked down at his chest and traced the scar that ran there with two fingertips. Most of it hadn't scared, just the part at his waist, the place were she had dug her fingers into the meat of him.

The shower shut off, and he smiled at Uo as she walked back into the room, towel wrapped precisely around her. Her blonde hair hung wetly to her shoulders, and her cheeks were pink with the heat of her shower. She moved around the room, picking up bits and pieces of clothing and sliding them on; she knew better than to whine, or beg, or any such diminutive things, she just put on her clothes and sat down next to him"What was the call about?" she asked finger combing her hair.

Kyo rubbed the five o'clock shadow that clung relentlessly to his chin, and looked at her. "The cops where at Shigure's" his foot tapped restlessly against the floor as he stared intently at the floor.

"Shit." Uo ran her fingers through her hair again. "What for?"

Kyo's cinnamon eyes flashed in the dim light as he looked up at her, "They were looking for you."

Earth green eyes wrinkled in confusions, "What for?"

"Take you in for questioning."

She watched him as he looked back at the floor, "Any charges?"

"Yea."

She knelt in front of him on the dank carpet, "You wanna tell me what they are? And why you believe them?" His orange hair blocked her view of his eyes and she reached up to brush it back, "Whatever it was I didn't do it. Unless they're picking me up for shoplifting that pack of gum."

Kyo smiled, "Burglary, and aggravated assault."

Uo's eyes shot wide, "The huh?"

"That's what they're charging you with, Hatori managed to pull some strings, so they're not going to be waiting outside or whatever. But he wants us home like two hours ago."

"Have they told Tohru yet?"

Kyo grinned and wrapped an arm around her waist, leaning against her back and resting his chin on her shoulder, "Use you're head. Would Tohru be awake at 3 in the fucking morning?"

"Jesus. Is that all?" she leaned back against him and wished for about 6 more hours of sleep.

Kyo chuckled softly. "They want us home."

"Of course they do. Want to make sure it was little Miss Delinquent that did it." there was a hidden smile, but it was drowning in the bitterness of her voice.

Kyo grinned too. "'Tori does have issues with those of who have criminal records."

They sat very still, staring at each other across the gap and silently reviewing each other. Uo had a long history with the police; her gang activity, the hundreds of speeding tickets, a arrest (without conviction) for prostitution. There were probably more, the things that she hadn't been caught for. She had been the one who scratched Akito a year ago, walked right into a meeting and blew him away.

Kyo shook his head "I wish I could have seen that." he muttered.

Uo smiled, knowing exactly what he was thinking about. "It was messy. You didn't want to see it." Kyo's record was much shorter and far less interesting. Mostly just disorderly, sometimes drunk and, then there were a couple of failed assault charges, and his speeding ticket could hold their own against Uo's.

Uo stood, "Come on then. Might as well get this over so I can go back to sleep." Kyo laughed and pulled on the shirt she threw at his head. It took them less than ten minutes to get loose of the motel and back into Yuki's car. Uo was driving after a brief scuffle in the parking lot and they were gone, their taillights glowing like two red butterflies disappearing into the night.